FRENCH ROMANTIC DELIGHT `AMELIE' A MUST-SEE

2001 comedy starring Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Miramax Home Entertainment. 117 min. Rated R. In French with subtitles. Available in DVD with commentary by director.

In a summer full of spies and shadows of war and strange beings all over -- and that's not even counting what's happening at the movies -- it's a rare occasion when you can take a break and just, as they used to say, get happy.

"Amelie," and its star Audrey Tautou, were pleasant surprises last winter when they sneaked over the ocean from France and conquered the art houses like the French army. OK, we'll leave the French army jokes to "Get Fuzzy." This is a movie, and a star, capable of gentleness, naivete and delight in the tiny moments of life.

Amelie Poulain commences life as the child of a former army doctor and his soon-to-be-deceased wife, and she grows up alone, except for her overflowing imagination. As an adult, she moves to Paris and works at a small bar. The coincidence of finding a boy's lost treasure box (at the moment of hearing the news of Princess Di's death) launches Amelie on a crusade to brighten the lives of the people around her: "finding" a widow a lost love letter, helping the grocer's boy stand up to his bully boss, making her stick-in-the-mud father take a trip. In the meantime, she finds a small mystery and, quite possibly, love with the elusive Nino (handsome Mathieu Kassovitz), if she has the nerve to reach for it.

If this sounds too sweet for your taste buds, well, at times it is. Perhaps there is too much cheerfulness: Any hint of tragedy is dealt with a wry and ironic hand. But Tautou and director Jean-Pierre Jeunet keep the tone sharp enough that only the grossest boor would fail to see any charm. And unlike the previous French treat "Chocolat," this one truly feels French, especially in its matter-of-fact treatment of sensual pleasure.

This is an excellent way to take a break from summer bombast. Not a single mobster or alien was harmed in the making of this film.